


It's a history of clichés

by TinyGuest23



Category: Glee
Genre: AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Falling In Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24791392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyGuest23/pseuds/TinyGuest23
Summary: You've heard of them, and about their love story that has been all over Hollywood since they've announced their relationship to the public. But you've never really known their story - until now.
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Kudos: 66





	It's a history of clichés

_Tony award-winning Broadway star Rachel Berry and best-selling author Quinn Fabray surprise all of Hollywood as they elope in secret_

You look at the photo that is printed on top of the article and can't help but squint your eyes. 

It is snapped in Central Park, featuring a female couple holding hands in bright daylight, and you think you know them. You can't help but think they look familiar.

It is then that it dawns on you, how the women smiling right back at you from your magazine, are none other than two of the most memorable girls from your years of high school in Lima, Ohio. 

Memorable, for different reasons of course - one being the gorgeous blonde who was on top of the pyramid, but fell hard when not only did she get pregnant at sixteen but had a car accident a year later - the other one being kind of the ugly duckling who was gifted with a voice that sounded amazing when singing but awfully annoying when rambling without taking a single breath.

You've heard of them, and about their love story that has been all over Hollywood since they've announced their relationship to the public.

But you've never really known their story - until now. 

You bring your coffee cup to your mouth, the hot beverage filling you up with warmth on this cold December morning, and you start reading.

You can't help but smile as you dive in into their history of clichés.

* * *

The blonde is Quinn Fabray, head cheerleader and the quarterback’s girlfriend. She is living a privileged life with her Christian family in their perfect white picket-fenced house.

Few people only know what occurs behind closed doors. The others would be shocked to find out that her mother is a long-time alcoholic or that her father lashes out more than once when the sun sets on Lima, leaving bruises and scars all over his women’s bodies. Bruises that fade when nights turn into mornings, but that leave holes in tiny souls. Most people don’t know that the older daughter – Frannie - got out while she could, leaving the mess of the Fabray’s behind without looking back. No one knows what happens behind closed doors, just as no one notices how the younger Fabray, who is no longer Lucy but Quinn now, is slowly drowning. Ever so slowly.

The brunette's name is Rachel Berry, the somewhat neurotic girl whose nose is too big, but whose voice moves mountains and touches hearts.

She is outspoken, never afraid to share her view on things, which people quite often find annoying. She is determined and sure of her future as a Broadway star and she thinks highly of herself - some might call her a self-absorbed bitch, others might admire her persistence and ambition. But there is a side of her, few people know. Inside, the tiny brunette is insecure and her heart bleeds far too often. She tries to block out the slushies and insults in daylight, tries to tell herself it’s for the best that her biological mother doesn’t want her and pressures herself into being the best. But when the night falls, she curls into bed, trying to block out the voices. People don't spend much time wanting to get to know her, believing that Rachel Berry herself is to blame for the way she is treated at school. They figure that she doesn't want her life to be any different than it is. And they are not wrong entirely. But they don’t know how most nights are spent alone with a twenty-dollar bill waiting on the counter to order take-away, because her dads are gone again for the whole weekend or how she wipes away hot tears when she doesn't get invited to the monthly glee-club dinners at Breadsticks.

People don’t see behind all the anger and sadness though.

They don't get that they are just two young girls who need to be heard, understood, but most importantly loved.

They are two girls, still figuring out their place in the world and how to grow up.

Two girls who couldn't be more different, but somehow confide in each other - starting a friendship that none of them is prepared for.

It’s the story of clichés, how over time two sworn enemies become kind of friends and share moments of vulnerability and honesty in empty halls or behind closed bathroom doors.

It's a start. A start of a ride nor Quinn or Rachel have ever expected, but that they are willing to experience.

* * *

At the graduation party that is thrown at Quinn’s ex-boyfriend’s house, the one who she shares a little girl with, Quinn finds she can’t stand watching Puck embarrass himself even further. She rolls her eyes as she watches him desperately trying to flirt with half of the school and decides to get some air. As the blonde steps outside, she breathes out a sigh of relief when she takes in the feeling of fresh air.

She can't help but smile when she spots Rachel sitting on the damp green grass and she moves to join her. Without so much as a warning, Quinn sits down beside her. Her hazel eyes follow chocolate brown orbs to watch the night sky. The black sky shines with stars and Quinn feels at peace, sitting in comfortable silence next to her friend, their fingers almost touching. With butterflies tingling insider her stomach, Quinn wonders if she should be brave and just kiss her friend to finally know what she tastes like.

She risks a glance at the brunette and blushes when she stares right back at her. Tiny smiles grace their lips as they take in the moment, silently saying what they can't voice. Rachel looks away first, blushing as she lifts her head again to observe the spectacular sea of stars. The moment passes and Quinn can’t find the courage to do what she has been trying to do for the past three months. Instead, she chooses to inch closer to her friend and she presses the softest kiss to the brunette’s temple. Her arm rests on tiny shoulders. While they gaze up at the sparkling miracle above them, Quinn can’t help but whisper into Rachel's ear that the stars make her think of her and her future as a Broadway star.

They are both beaming and Quinn dares to wonder if this is what love feels like.

* * *

They are all crammed together on the platform, when Rachel steps onto the train, waving goodbye and leaving behind an almost-husband and _her_ , the girl who remains in the shadow of things. Quinn doesn’t cry, but her eyes are burning and she wonders if they will see each other ever again. But then she remembers that there is a metro north pass hidden inside her purse and she knows that Rachel has one, too. She feels like it’s going to be okay. Despite the ache she feels in her chest, she manages a small grin when she thinks of the singer’s first step into her childhood dream. Quinn has never wanted anything else for Rachel Berry and she knew Rachel was going to shine brighter than anyone else.

* * *

They kiss for the first time after Rachel’s first off-Broadway show in an empty dressing room. A bouquet of gardenias is dangerously close to falling to the ground between them, as Quinn tugs the singer closer to her own body. Quinn has finally found the courage to connect their lips when Rachel’s rambling was starting to make no sense anymore. The moment their lips touch, it feels like fireworks. But it also feels a lot like something both girls – women now – are too scared to admit. Quinn pulls away first, but before they can talk about it, Santana comes in and pulls them both out of the room to get drinks and celebrate Rachel’s first milestone in her career. They go out to celebrate with their old group of friends and they dance the night away. Quinn knows that they move far too close, bodies pressed against each other in an equal rhythm. They are dancing far too intimate for two platonic friends, but no one mentions it. Moreover, the alcohol in Quinn’s system makes her not care at all, when she pulls Rachel even closer.

The next day, Quinn leaves, with nothing left behind, terrified of everything she is feeling and not sure she can be who she thinks Rachel needs her to be. She knows well that she is a coward, but there are too many expectations in her life and Quinn suddenly can’t handle the consequences of what this might mean. She flees.

What Quinn doesn’t see, is how the brunette can’t move from her bed, a faint scent of the former enemy still lingering in her sheets. They weren’t much more than two bodies tangled around each other earlier that night, fully clothed. There were only faint kisses on exposed shoulder blades and against a brushing hand, but Rachel feels devastated and used. When she fully opens her eyes, she silently wonders if it was all just a dream. She almost wishes Quinn was never real.

* * *

The next time they kiss, Rachel graduates from NYADA and Quinn takes the first train to New York. To Rachel, the blonde seems older, wiser now. And when she meets her halfway in an empty hallway to hug her close, there is suddenly no trace of doubt. Their lips find each other like magnets, and Quinn kisses like it’s the last time she will ever feel those soft lips again. She draws back slightly, but only to cup the brunette’s face. There is no fear anymore, only determination and desire. There is a promise behind those hazel eyes and the brunette’s breath hitches.

They stare into each other’s souls when they part. Both remain still, unmoving, before there is another set of caramel brown eyes and dark hair and Rachel suddenly feels delicate arms come around her waist, holding her close. She almost forgets how her lips still tingle from Quinn Fabray’s touch, almost. A loving kiss is pressed into her neck from behind and she breathes in into the familiar scent. Quinn’s eyes widen in realisation at the sight, but her mask to her hide her emotions has only improved by time, so the blonde recovers quickly and steps back. She gives Rachel a faint smile, before walking down the corridor, until Rachel can’t see her anymore.

The soundless crack of both their hearts echoes through the hall, too loud to hear.

* * *

The third time is charm, they say.

They celebrate a wedding of old friends and when their eyes meet across the room. There is an unspoken request, a whiff of what ifs and unresolved tension.

They meet in the bathroom three minutes later. It’s an unspoken truth, of how it's _their_ place, so it seems fitting.

None of them speaks, but the second the door falls close behind them, lips meet and hands wander. Clothes are lost in seconds and all there is left is desire. There is the taste of cranberry vodka on naked skin and the scent of years of yearning, but beneath all this, there is something that has been building up since their early high school days that is slowly coming to the surface. It only evokes with both of them panting until they moan out loud in pleasure. When it’s over, they stay a few seconds locked in each other’s arms as their hearts start beating in the same rhythm.

They want to hold on onto this newfound feeling of joy and _home_ , but there is an army husband waiting and a longtime girlfriend near by, so they go their separate ways.

They part with just one more touch of rosy lips against red and the familiar sound of cracking hearts.

* * *

They meet again a few years down the road, in the city that never sleeps, accidentally, and both overwhelmed by the course of the universe.

They get coffee and they sit in awkward silence. No one mentions the sparkling gold band on a tan finger or the fading line of a past wedding ring on a pale hand. 

They part ways, disappointed and empty hearted.

* * *

It’s two weeks before Rachel’s wedding day that Quinn shows up at her bachelorette party, unannounced and wasted, ready to cause a scene.

There are accusations and hurtful insults, but Rachel knows it’s because the blonde is hurting the same way she was, when she got her wedding invitation two years ago. Rachel didn’t do anything then, but Quinn Fabray has always been different in that aspect, anyways. The bride-to-be ends the night early, bringing home the stumbling blonde and leading her into the guest bedroom to rest and sleep off the alcohol. There is a hand circling around a wrist, before Rachel reaches the door and for a moment Rachel is not sure what to do.

Then, without a word, she lets Quinn guide her as she slips into bed next to her. All they do is hold each other as the night passes. Arms are grasping onto something that has never been solid and bodies are merging into one. Somehow, it’s the most intimate they have felt in their entire life. On the down side, it’s the most fragile, too.

When they wake up, they are both still there, sober now and still fully dressed. Quinn prepares to leave, but not before turning and locking eyes with dark brown.

For the first time, there is a declaration of love and there are hazel eyes pleading for a second chance, or third, or any chance there is really, before blonde hair vanishes through a door.

Rachel is left alone, wondering, and it’s then that she sees that her engagement ring has been replaced by a much simpler white-gold band that fits her finger perfectly.

* * *

There is no first date, but a loud knock at two in the morning and there are tears streaming down both their faces.

When they meet halfway again, it feels like they are finally in the right place after going around in circles their entire life.

A shaking hand slips under a shirt and trembling lips press into soft, exposed skin just beneath an exposed collarbone, just to feel connected. It’s not perfect, but it’s close.

Quinn’s fingers run through brown locks, shivering at the sole thought of being in this moment. She whispers poetic verses of new beginnings and second chances and getting it right. Rachel holds on, tightening her arms around the blonde’s neck and she thinks of forevers and a life time.

The way they move in sync to the bed, like dance partners, who have practiced for years, is both magical and predictable. The way they exist in this moment, tells the outside world, how well they fit, and it finally occurs to them that this is where they need to be.

It’s in the darkness of the room, that Rachel admits the words that were swimming inside her for more than a decade for the first time, tracing the words on a naked back.

Quinn smiles, pressing a gentle kiss to the gleaming ring on the brunette’s hand before murmuring the three words into wild locks.

* * *

When they announce their love to their enclosed world two weeks later, to their families and dearest friends, no one seems surprised. But there are hugs and tears and well wishes and their hearts beam with happiness. None of them even blinks an eye, when they get married that same month.

Well, no one expect all of Hollywood, when they finally announce their love story to the outside world.

“It was bound to happen anyway.”, the blonde would shrug when being asked in an interview about the matching wedding bands the two were spotted with at one of Quinn's book signing events or on the red carpet after one of Rachel's shows. The brunette in her arms would chuckle in agreement, before ramblingly telling their story all over again.

* * *

You chuckle when you close the magazine and can't help but think of their history of clichés:

Two teenage girls who start off as enemies and fight over the same teenage boys, who push each other just right for the other to explode, become allies first, and then lovers in the end. 

Some will say it's not cliché at all, telling you it's not the typical story of _boy meets girl_ , but you will always disagree.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! Reviews are very welcome :)


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